Vintage Halloween Don'ts Greeting Card, Early 1900s

Behind this setup lies the apparent aftermath of either a great party or a violent crime—a black cat with its back to us, staring down what appears to be a lantern while a witch's hat and broomstick lay casually discarded nearby, all framed inside a giant pumpkin like the world's most chaotic snow globe. The card's headline, 'Hallowe'en Don'ts,' pivots immediately into telling children to 'make friends with the witches' for 'good cheer,' which is the most spectacular bait-and-switch in greeting card history. The ivy-adorned pumpkin border gives the whole scene a cozy, domestic framing that makes the cat's ominous, unreadable posture somehow worse—this is not a cat waiting for its owner, this is a cat with a plan.